ISRAEL Law and Practice Contributed by: Joseph Sprinzak and Rahel Rimon, J.SPRINZAK
right to obtain information from a public author - ity in accordance with the provisions of the law. The public authority is not under any obligation to provide information that is a commercial or professional secret, or which has economic val - ue, information on commercial or professional matters connected with a person’s business or information that may infringe a person’s privacy. In practice, the Registrar will provide access to all entries (registrations, mortgages, charges, pledges); however, access will not be provided to the underlying documents. The fee for an application to the SPA to inspect or verify any entry in the Registry of Vessels cur - rently stands at ILS476. 2. Marine Casualties and Owners’ Liability 2.1 International Conventions: Pollution and Wreck Removal Israel is a party to the following International Conventions relating to pollution: • International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973 as modified by Protocol, 1978 (MARPOL 73/78); • Protocol to the International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage (CLC PROT 1992); • Protocol to the International Convention on the Establishment of an International Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage, 1971 (FUND PROT 92); • International Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Co-operation, 1990 as amended (OPRC 1990); and
• Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean, 1995. Local legislation relating to pollution includes: • Prevention of Sea-Water Pollution by Oil Ordi - nance [New Version] – 1980; • Regulations for the Prevention of Sea-Water Pollution by Oil (Guarantee for Fine Payments and Cleaning Expenses) – 1983; and • Regulations for the Prevention of Sea-Water Pollution by Oil (Marine Environment Protec - tion Fee), 1983. The Prevention of Sea-Water Pollution by Oil Ordinance applies to Israeli territorial waters and inland waters, and its provisions may be applied to non-Israeli vessels outside Israeli territorial waters that threaten to pollute Israeli territorial waters. The Ordinance specifies actions to be taken in the case of oil discharges and creates the Fund for the Prevention of Sea-Water Pollu - tion, with the goal of creating financial resources for the fight against and prevention of pollution of sea water and the seashore and for their cleansing and inspection. In cases of discharge of oil into the sea, the Minister of Transport may, by notice, request the owner of the vessel to take specified measures aimed at preventing, stopping or reducing the discharge. A “marine environment protection fee” may be imposed on owners or operators of vessels, as well as on owners or operators of installations on land or at sea from which oil might be discharged or allowed to escape into the sea. After many years of delay, in January 2022, the Knesset’s Economic Committee finally approved Ministry of Transport Regulations designed to protect the marine environment by drastically reducing the amount of organic and non-organic
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